February 9, 2014Album review: ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’ by Bombay Bicycle Club

Review by Hannah Kovensky

Bombay Bicycle Club’s fourth studio album, ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’, is a beat heavy, generously synth-y, fun follow up to their previous album, 2011’s A Different Kind of Fix. While each song is in itself classic BBC, as Jack Steadman’s easily recognisable voice echos from track to track (and with the help of their friend and fellow singer Lucy Rose providing back-up vocals), it isn’t hard to tell that the band decided to dive into some new directions.

Songs like “Overdone” and “Home By Now” feature a hip-hop beat, and “Carry Me” an unusual drum rhythm. However, each song has resonating choral hooks, tying each track together into a single cohesive record of pure catchiness. The Londoners manage to transform syncopated and unorthodox tunes into radio-ready electro-pop songs, like a combination of Discovery’s poppy electricity and Passion Pit’s ability to shape melancholic melodies into something uplifting. “Luna” wails, “You burn through my mind again and again”, and is immediately followed with the much deeper sounding, more chilling “Eyes Off You”, with Steadman lamenting “I can’t be sad/I can’t take my eyes of you”. Steadman then becomes hopeful in “Feel”, assuring he’d always “knew you’d come”.

The album as a whole captures the stages of love, the hope, pleasure, and woe, all packaged into a foot-tapping collection of tunes. It’s interesting to see what Bombay Bicycle Club will produce next, though it is highly likely that whatever they come up with, it will be something progressive, according to their work thus far.